Samsung Heavy Clinches Order for Crude Carrier Quartet

South Korea’s shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has received orders to construct four crude carriers, the company said in a stock exchange filing.

Under the agreement, signed with an undisclosed Asian shipowner, the shipbuilder is expected to deliver the vessels by July 2019.

Samsung Heavy Industries informed that the contract has a value of KRW 378.4 billion (USD 334.8 million), with each of the ships priced at around KRW 94.6 billion.

The deal was signed only days after the South Korean reported a jump in profit, joining the recovery drive of its two compatriots, DSME and Hyundai Heavy Industries, having posted a 350.8 percent increase in its operating profit for the first three months of 2017 year-on-year.

SHI’s operating profit for the quarter reached KRW 27.5 billion a considerable increase from KRW 6.1 billion in the corresponding period in 2016, while its net profit achieved a 269 percent increase, reaching KRW 58.7 billion against KRW 15.9 billion seen a year earlier.

As of March 31, 2017, the shipbuilder’s order backlogs on delivery basis totaled in USD 26.5 billion, dominated by tankers, 34 of them, followed by 15 LNG carriers and 10 drilling rigs, among other units.